IMPORTANT phrasal verbs for HOBBIES and ACTIVITIES | Speak better English

Hi there, welcome back. This is  Harry and welcome to my English  

lesson where I try to help you to get a better  understanding of the English language. Okay.

And before I forget to tell you make sure you  listen to me on the podcast, okay, you can  

listen to it on Spotify or indeed if you go to my  

web page, you'll find lots and lots of  material there a one-stop shop to help you to  

improve your English language. And of course,  these lessons which we continue to produce  

on videos, you support me, so I'm very,  very happy to support you. So what are we  

going to talk about in this lesson? Well,  we want to talk initially about hobbies.

Specifically, we want to talk  about phrasal verbs about hobbies.  

Any of you who have a hobby will know what  enjoyment you get from it. So we're going to  

talk about phrasal verbs about hobbies, okay,  so I'm going to give you the list of them,  

and then I'll go through them with you give you  some examples. And then hopefully, you'll be able  

to understand those, you'll be able to practice  them and try to introduce them into your English.

And perhaps if you want to send me a note and tell  me what your favourite hobbies what the hobbies  

of your parents were, what your  hobbies are, and compare them so  

always happy to hear them, always happy  to see if you got any unusual hobbies.

So here we go the phrasal  verbs to be into something,  

or you could emphasise it  to be really into something,

take up,

join in,

sign up,

get into something,

turn up for something,

keep up,

back out,

pack in and give up. Okay, so all  phrasal verbs directly connected  

with a hobby or hobbies. Okay, so  let me go through them one by one.

So when we say you're into something,  or you're really into something,  

it means you're really, really enjoying  it. So when I was young, as I said,  

I had a stamp collection and I was really into  my stamp collection, I took it really seriously.

And any time a relative was going abroad, and  I heard about it, I'd always ask them to send  

me back some stamps. So to write me a letter  put stamps on the letter, so they'd have a  

watermark on them, so I could show them off in  my collection. And lots of uncles, thankfully,  

I had lots of uncles, they went to different  places like China, and you know, in the 1960s,  

and 70s. That was quite amazing. So I got these  wonderful, wonderful stamps back. Unfortunately,  

I lost the collection many years ago. But when  you're into something you're really enjoyed, okay.

He's really into his football.

He's really into ballroom dancing, so it doesn't  matter what it is, is if you're really into it,  

you really enjoy it. And so we  can use the expression he's into,  

or he's really into his particular hobby.

Take up. So when we want to start a hobby,  we take it up, or he's taken up Taekwondo,  

or he's taken up mixed martial arts. So this is  his latest pastime, or sport, or hobby. So when  

you take up, you go to a club, you join the club,  you get involved, and you take up that particular  

activity. So we can ask the question or pose  the question, why don't you take up a hobby?

So one of the kids is hanging around the house,  the weekends have nothing to do I'm bored,  

nobody to play with or whatever, nowhere to go.  Why don't you take up a hobby? Meaning Why don't  

you start? Why don't you begin? Why don't we go  out there and find something that's interesting?

Take that camera you got for your birthday  and go out and start taking photographs. Why  

don't you look up on the internet, and join a  photography club, lots of different interests,  

lots of ways to find other people with similar  interests. And so you can take up that activity  

and meet new people. So take up a sport, take  up a hobby to find yourself a new pastime.

Join in. Well, when you join in, you join  with other people. So you're walking along  

the park and the footpath.

You see some guys playing football. Do you  mind if I join in? Meaning Can I come and play  

football with you? Yeah, come  along. The more the merrier.

Or you join a fitness club in the gym.  And you ask them Can I join in the  

spin class? Can I join in  this small group of people  

who are training because you don't want to  train on your own and let's face it, it's  

a little bit boring training on your own. If you  can join in with other people, you egg each other  

on, you support each other, you encourage  each other, and you get better and better.

So to join in means people  come together to join in.

Sign up is another way of joining  in, because if you go to the club,  

you know, the other gym, the guy  will show you around and say,

Oh, these are the changing rooms, these are  the machines, this is what we do. You know,  

are you interested? Yeah, well sign up here.  So you have to fill in an application form,  

and you have to pay your money and  one of the details, they give you  

the key to get in and off, you go, you've  signed up, and you're a member of the gym,  

or you see something on the internet for that  photography club. So you sign up for that.

Or you go to university, and  they have lots of different  

activities there. So you go on the open night when  they talk about these activities. And you sign up  

to john join the mountaineering club or the club  that they use to climb these rocks on the walls is  

special indoor, mountain climbing activities  that they have whatever it happens to be,  

you sign up for that particular activity.  So literally, you sign your name on an  

application form, you pay money if you have  to pay an entrance fee, or it might be free,  

you just put your details, your mobile number or  your email address, whatever it happens to be,  

and therefore you become a member of that  particular club or that particular activity.

To get into something, well, a bit like being  into when you're really into something you're  

really interested to get into something is  to start Yeah, I'm getting into kayaking,  

or some water sports, I'd like to get into  these activities, because I've seen it on  

the Olympics, for example. And it  looks really, really interesting.

So I think I go to the local club one Saturday,  see if I can find anybody to talk to and ask them,  

How do you get into water sports? So how  do I begin? That's literally what it means.

How do you get into running in the marathon? Is  there a club that I can join or a group of people  

who are training for the next marathon and a few  months? So I would really like to get into some  

type of sport because I spend all my days sitting  at a desk like like me, and by the time I get to  

the end of the day, I'm tired, but I go out and I  have some activity, then I get a bit more energy,  

and perhaps I can do it at the weekends as  well. So I'd really like to get into something.

You might like to get into cooking. Yeah, you  fancy cooking, or all these days when we've been  

locked down and we can't go to restaurants or  we can only go to the supermarket. And when  

we go to the supermarket, we see all these  wonderful ingredients. So we'd like to get  

into cooking to try and see what we can do.  It can't be that difficult to get a recipe,  

you get the ingredients, you read the  recipe, you do the measurements. And slowly  

step by step you can get into that  new activity of cooking or baking,  

whatever you want to do. Okay, so  get into something to start begin.

Turn up. Well, of course, the big  thing about getting a new hobby,  

or getting into something or being into  something, you need that motivation,  

something that gets you out of bed in the  morning, something that gets you to the gym,  

after work in the evening, something that gets you  out for that walk at lunchtime, whatever it is,  

you need some personal motivation, and you  have to turn up. So you have to have to turn up  

literally. That training starts at 5:30, 6:30.  So you have to be there you have to turn up.

Or mentally you have to turn  up for the event. So yeah,  

I'm going to do it. So when am I going to  start? I'm going to start next Tuesday at No,  

we're going to start today. Okay,  so you get yourself motivated,  

don't put it off. Don't delay it. Turn up now in  body, in spirit and in mind. Okay, so to turn up.

To keep up this is another phrasal verb connected  with hobbies. So what does keep up mean? Well,  

when we keep up something, it means we continue  the action that we've started. So as we said  

before, you have to have motivation. So initially,  we always have a lot of motivation to start  

a new activity or a hobby so it's not  difficult to be full of enthusiasm.

You get down to the gym on Monday, Wednesday,  the Friday and after a couple of weeks  

or no cannot say for sure tonight, I'm  a little bit tired. I'm a little bit  

sore. And the interest starts to wane as  we say out to drop off. So you have to keep  

up your interest, okay? So you'd need to be  motivated. And that's why it's really important  

perhaps, to have a gym buddy somebody that's going  to get you out, or you are going to get him or her  

out so that you get to the gym together, and  you motivate each other so you don't drop off.

So when we want to keep up, it means to  continue that action that we decided,  

yeah. Okay, so you have to keep up your  interest, you have to keep up your interest  

in photography have to continue to take  photographs to continue to go to places to  

get that really perfect picture or image. So  keep it up means to keep your interest alive,  

keep like the capital or the pan on the stove,  keep it boiling here. So to keep your interest  

in your new activity and your new hobby, keep it  alive, keep the interest there, keep it growing.

Back out will be the opposite of keep up. Okay, so  

again, a phrasal verb to back out  means to leave. Yeah, so you're not  

probably too happy perhaps with the gym,  the equipment may be a little bit older,  

maybe you don't get along so much with the people  there. So you decide to stop or to back out.

To back out means to lose your  interest, to move backwards.

So when you back out of something,  

you withdraw, or you stop. Okay, so  backing out, not such a good thing to do.

But if you're not happy and you're not enjoying  it, well, it's better than just giving up and  

losing the money. Or you might just go off  and decide to go to another gym. So when you  

back out of something, you tend to stop.  Okay, so you could find you have a new hobby,  

you could find that you're really interested in  kayaking or canoeing. But when you get down to it,  

and you tried a couple of times, it's not for  you as much as you thought so you back out,  

you withdraw or you decide No, I  try something else to back out.

And then the last two, I'm going to take them  together to pack in and to give up because really,  

they mean the same thing. So when we pack  in a hobby, we stop when we give up a hobby,  

we stop so they really have the same meaning  we might use them in a slightly different way.

Okay, so somebody your parents  or your friends might say to you,  

why did you pack it in? Meaning why did you  stop? Ah, it's a long story, but I really  

couldn't afford the time that I thought I could  and it's a long way to the gym and blah blah  

blah blah blah. So you have lots of excuses to  say why you packed in that particular hobby.  

But you might use the expression give  up. Yeah, oh, I gave up because of this.

So your mother says Why did you pack in the  gym? or Why did you pack in the photography?  

I gave it up because it was boring, I gave it up  because there was nobody there my own age. I gave  

it up because I've got a new interest, I've got a  girlfriend or I've got something else to do. Okay,  

so pack in, give up mean exactly the same,  means you stop something you've started,  

you stop the hobby, you give it up you pack it in.  Like to pack in means to put it in a box and put  

it in the wardrobe. So that's the literal meaning  but to pack in means to stop, give up completely.

Okay, so they're all the phrasal  verbs connected with hobbies.

So let me go through them one more  time to be into something or as I said,  

to be really into something really interested.  Take up something means to start that new hobby.  

To join in means to come together with other  people to have a similar interest. Sign  

up literally sign on the dotted line. To get into  something means to begin, I'm going to get into it  

from next week. Turn up means physically  turn up there. So you start the activity.  

Keep it up, to keep up means to continue to have  that ongoing motivation that gets you out of bed  

gets you out of the office chair gets you into  that gym when you want to get there. Back out  

of something means to withdraw to stop and the  last two which is to pack in and to give up mean  

the same to come to a complete stop and continue  or not continue with some other type of hobby.

Okay, so all of them are phrasal verbs. All  to do with hobbies and remember when you  

use a phrasal verb there is a specific verb  like take or join. Usually, a simple verb  

followed by a preposition or sometimes two  prepositions, okay? And they can always be  

replaced by one verb. So give you an example to  take up a hobby is to start a hobby you'll always  

find a more formal verb to replace those phrasal  verbs. And phrasal verbs are important in  

the English language, particularly when it  gets beyond that intermediate level people  

expect particularly in an exam situation that  you can use them but don't overdo it. You don't  

have to use phrasal verbs in every sentence, some  of them come automatically, but I've given you a  

list of them, practice them, see what you can do.  And if you have any problems, come back to me.

As I always say, I really appreciate the time you  give to learn English with me, there are lots of  

people out there trying to do the same thing. And  I'm trying to help you in my way to get better at  

it. And if you want to contact me, well, you  can do so on www.englishlessonviaskype..com.  

If there are any of your colleagues or friends  or you yourself, if you fancy lessons on a one  

to one basis, it won't always be with me, but  we can certainly help you because we've got  

lots and lots of teachers, really professional  teachers that can help you so drop me a line, drop  

me an email, and we'd be happy to help you. As  always, thanks for listening. Join me again soon.